About us

British Values

British Values are important to us. They represent the relationships we form with one another at Cherhill.

Cherhill is committed to serving the community and surrounding areas. We recognise the multi-cultural, multi-faith nature of the United Kingdom and understand the crucial role our school plays in promoting these values.

We encourage admissions from all those entitled to education under British law regardless of faith, ethnicity, gender, sexual, political or financial status. We are an inclusive school and the promotion of modern British values and democracy is clearly evident within our school.

We understand the importance of the current Ofsted guidance: should ensure that they and the school promote tolerance and respect for people of all faiths (or those of no faith), cultures and lifestyles; and support and help, through their words, actions and influence within the school and more widely in the community, to prepare children and young people positively for life in modern Britain.

Democracy

Children are actively encouraged to have a voice and share their views and opinions regularly. Our active school council is one such example. Each seasonal term we hold elections when the candidates for class representatives on the school council pitch their election manifesto to the rest of their class. A secret ballot ensues and the results are announced as part of our Act of Worship. The children love this process and have great respect for the outcomes. The school council representatives (2 per class from Y1 to Y6) meet regularly then take the ideas from the meeting back to their class for discussion. In Y5 and Y6 we have a team of monitors who have to submit a letter of application and go through an interview process. Their role in school is to support the delivery of Worship and lead when appropriate, they are library monitors, playground pals and anti-bullying ambassadors. We also have a head boy, head girl, deputy head boy and deputy head girl and they lead tours of the school, show new children around school and support evening activities in school.

Each child also contributes their ideas to their own class charter. This sets rules for classroom conduct and establishes the standards of behaviour children can expect from each other over the year. Pupils have the opportunity to have their voices heard through pupil conferences (as part of our teaching and Learning monitoring) and through our pupil questionnaire. Children use debating in their learning and understand the principles they should follow. Our school behaviour policy ensures that both sides of any dispute are taken into account, with agreed sanctions in place. All classes display our Good to be Green chart. Parents, Carers and staff complete an annual questionnaire which provides them with the opportunity to share views of the learning at Cherhill and suggest ways in which the school can be improved further.

Rule of Law

The importance of laws, whether they be those that govern the class, the school, or the country, are reinforced throughout our regular school days, as well as when dealing with behaviour and through daily Acts of Worship. Children are taught the value and reasons behind laws, that they govern and protect us, the responsibilities that this involves and the consequences when laws are broken. Our school and class rules, rewards and sanctions, which are displayed in all classrooms and referred to regularly and consistently upheld are a practical example of this. We have links with police, ambulance and fire services who help reinforce this. They visit classes as part of the learning planned. The concept of the Rule of Law is also reinforced through teaching activities in our citizenship curriculum, in particular through the Y3/4 Crime and Punishment unit. The local sniffer dog and CSI unit visited Y5/6 as part of their work on forensics when they were responsible for solving a ‘crime’ at school. Y5/6 also take part in Wiltshire’s Junior Good Citizen scheme which educates the children about situations which can end up causing injuries or accidents, encourage them to respond appropriately to emergency situations and highlights the contribution that they can make to creating safer communities by being ‘good citizens.’

Individual Liberty

Within our school, children are actively encouraged to make choices, knowing they are in a safe and supportive environment. As a school we educate and provide boundaries for young children to take risks and to make choices safely, through the provision of a safe environment and empowering education. Children are encouraged to know, understand and exercise their rights and personal freedoms and advise how to exercise these safely, for example through our E-Safety and PSHE lessons. Whether it is through choice of learning challenge, how they record their learning, lunch options, participation in extra-curricular clubs and opportunities, children are given the freedom to make choices and make decisions.

Mutual Respect

As a Church of England, Voluntary Aided School, mutual respect is at the heart of our values. Children learn that their behaviours have an effect on their own rights and those of others. All members of the school community treat each other with respect. We use BLP (Building Learning Power) and ‘Respect’ is one of our ‘Rs’. We discuss this during our Act of Worship at the beginning of Term 1 and the children spend time working through activities to help them understand the concept. We also have a HLTA who is responsible for peer mediation, conflict resolutions and runs social skills groups to ensure all children understand how to respect their peers. Respect is reinforced through our behaviour policy, school and class rules.

Tolerance of those of Different Faiths and Beliefs

Cherhill is situated in an area which is not culturally diverse, therefore we place a great emphasis on promoting diversity with the children. Collective Worship is regularly planned to address this issue either directly or through the inclusion of stories and celebrations from a variety of faiths and cultures. Our RE and PSHE teaching reinforce this. Each year the children explore a world faith alongside their learning about Christianity. By the time they leave us, all children have learnt about the beliefs and practices of people of the following world faiths; Judaism, Sikhism, Hinduism, and Islam. Members of different faiths or religions are encouraged to share their knowledge to enhance learning within classes and the school. As part of our Whole School Pause entitled ‘Around the World’ the children have experiences of many cultures including language, food, dress and beliefs and customs.

Preventing Radicalisation and Extremism

Radicalisation is defined as the act or process of making a person more radical or favouring of extreme or fundamental changes in political, economic or social conditions, institutions or habits of the mind.

Extremism is defined as the holding of extreme political or religious views. The Governing Body of Cherhill has a zero tolerance approach to extremist behaviour for all school community members. We rely on our strong Christian values to steer our work and ensure the pastoral care of our children protects them from exposure to negative influences.

Cherhill is fully committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all its children. As a school we recognise that safeguarding against radicalisation is no different from safeguarding against any other vulnerability. At Cherhill all staff are expected to uphold and promote the fundamental principles of British values, including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect, and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs. All staff and governors have undergone Prevent training.

Children are encouraged to adopt and live out our Core Values. These complement the key “British Values” of tolerance, respect, understanding, compassion and harmonious living.

Children are helped to understand the importance of democracy and freedom of speech, through the SEAL (Social, emotional aspects of learning) Acts of Worship and through the elected School Council members

Children are taught how to keep themselves safe, in school and when using the internet.

Children participate in local community events so that they appreciate and value their neighbours and friends who may not share their faith background.

Children are supported in making good choices from a very young age, so they understand the impact and consequences of their actions on others.

Curriculum

Our curriculum promotes respect, tolerance, diversity and British values. In Key Stage 1 we study several famous British people such as Guy Fawkes, Florence Nightingale, Queen Victoria and Major Tim Peake and Y1/2 re-enacted the coronation of Elizabeth II. We also celebrate or commemorate key dates in British history such as Bonfire Night and Remembrance Day. British history is interwoven within our topics. We study geographical and historical elements of Britain. We learn about the Roman Empire and its impact in Britain, this links to our residential visit to New Barn in Dorset. We study the life of Henry VIII, World War I as well as looking as the lives of significant British explorers. We also look at crime and punishment across the ages.

As a school we hold Remembrance day commemorations where children purchase poppies, a two minute silence is held and our Head and deputy boys and girls represent the school at the service in town with all Calne schools. We have celebrated the World Cup, The Olympics and Para Olympics with a member of our staff being given time to act as a Games Maker. We were able to learn about the Olympics first hand and have memorabilia as well as access to the Olympic Torch. 2 members of staff and a group of children ran with the torch from Cherhill to the next local school to hand it over in a relay to ensure the torch visited all schools. As part of the school’s 50th birthday celebrations we staged a jubilee style tea party and linked it to the street parties held to celebrate the Queen’s jubilee.

On a general level, the school undertakes daily Acts of Worship which uphold traditional values of empathy, respect and tolerance. We have 22 values altogether which as well as being covered in Acts of Worship across the year, are taught within formal SEAL, PHSCE, Citizenship and RE lessons and on an informal nature throughout the school days.

We have excellent links with other local schools and also visit our local church at Easter, Harvest and Christmas with KS2 performing a Carol Service for parents and villagers.